The material relevant to this item are the report (pages 17 to 18) and its appendix in the agenda supplement (pages 1 to 42) in the agenda papers considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday 3 July 2018.
RECOMMENDATION TO THE COUNCIL
That the Chichester District Council Annual Report 2017-2018 be received.
Minutes:
The Council considered the recommendation made to it by the Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday 3 July 2018, as set out in the Cabinet report (pages 17 to 18 of the Cabinet agenda) and its appendix (pages 1 to 42 in the Cabinet agenda supplement).
Mr A Dignum (Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Growth and Place) formally moved the Cabinet’s recommendation and this was seconded by Mrs E Lintill (Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Community Services).
Mr Dignum presented the Cabinet’s recommendation as follows.
The Annual Report wasa summaryofthekey achievementsandprogressmade by CDCduring 2017-2018 towards the objectives set out in the Corporate Plan (CP). It included outlines of the plans developed during that period for implementation in 2018-2019. The report was only a summary of CDC’s work of delivering over 80 services to Chichester District’s residents at a cost of just £3 per week for the average Band D council tax payer. Further details of all the services were available on CDC’s website. The CP’s key objectives were cited and exemplified as follows:
(1) Managing our built and natural environmentsEnvironmental concerns hadbeenattheforefront during the year: (a) a newLitterandFlyTipStrategywasdevelopedandimplemented; (b) a litterenforcementtrial (to be reviewed in 2018) used staff fromEastHampshireDistrictCouncil to issuefixedpenaltynoticestothosecaught litteringorfailingtoclean upaftertheirdogs; (c) awide-reachingcampaign againstlitter, to which many localbusinessesandcommunity groupshadpledgedtheirsupport throughthe Adopt-an-Areainitiative, had now been short-listed for a national award; (d) action to eliminate the use of single-use plastics in Chichester District, including within CDC; (e) air quality improvement measures had included (i) the start of an ongoing installation programme of chargepointsforelectricvehicles in CDC car parks, (ii) further stepstomeasure airqualityinkey areas and (iii) producing arefresh of the Air QualityActionPlan; and (f) the current detailed review of the Chichester Local Plan in readiness for adoption by 2020
(2) Improving and supporting our economy (a) a major contribution towards this objective was the opening of thenewEnterpriseCentre (EC) inTerminusRoadChichester on 1 March 2018, providing modern, flexiblespaces forsmall businessestogrowandflourish,so helpingtocreate new,highqualityjobsforlocalpeople, and which hadalreadyattracted25businessesto operate from the EC; (b) afterextensivepublicconsultation andworkwithpartners,theChichesterVision (CV) wasadoptedinJuly 2017 and the deliveryoftheCVprojectswerenowbeingledby the ChichesterVisionSteeringGroup representing all the city’s major stakeholders, with the focus onlargeprojects such asSouthernGatewayand also smaller projectswhich soughttomake thecity moreattractivetousersofall ages; (c) theMasterplan toguidedevelopmentinthe 30-acre SouthernGatewayareaofChichesterwasformallyadoptedinNovember2017 and the focus was now directed to implementationoftheproject: £5 m in Local Enterprise Partnership funding had been secured and current priorities were to (i) arrange the relocation of Stagecoach and Royal Mail, (ii) devise a development brief and then secure a development partner and (iii) bid for more public sector funding; (d) the refresh of Visions for Selsey and Midhurst was underway with local partners to improve the two towns’ economies; (e) the continuation of support for independentbusinesses throughout Chichester District, to include for the coming year fundingtodelivera programmeofspecialist retailtraining courses and awarding grants for external improvements to retail premises.
(3) Supporting our communities The particular emphasis was to help the most vulnerable with the development of new projects such as: (a) socialprescribing (to be realised via partnershipagreementsandfunding), which would placecommunityreferrersintoGPpractices across Chichester District to work with peoplewhohadnon-medicalissues andrequired community-basedsolutions to enhance individuals’ physicalandmental health and reduce pressures on GPs and A&E; and (b) the Council Tax Reduction Scheme: funded by CDC, it enabled the giving of discounts on council tax according to income and unlike most other local authorities CDC’s scheme had not been made less generous than the national scheme operating up to 2012.
(4) Improving the provision of and access to suitable housing CDC’s housing team continued to support those with a local connection to Chichester District who were or were at risk of becoming homeless: (a) the team had expanded and changed the way it worked in order to cope with the anticipated increase in the number of residents seeking advice and assistance following the introduction of Universal Credit and the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which would extend CDC’s duties in respect of potentially homeless people; (b) the provision of temporary accommodation for homeless households at two sites in Chichester: Westward House and the purchase in 2017 of an empty property in Freeland Close; and (c) promoting community land trusts as a possible solution to the problem in some communities of a combination of high house prices and comparatively low wages, making it hard for people to stay living in the area in which they had grown up from childhood and CDC was now supportingeight community-ledhousinggroups.
(5) Managing Chichester District Council’s finances prudently and effectively (a) each year CDC updated a five-year financial strategy for a balanced budget, making savings as needed with modest council tax increases and parking charges to ensure services were delivered to the standards expected by residents; (b) developing a portfolio of investments in bonds and local property which yielded a significant income that contributed to meeting the cost of CDC services; and (c) reviews of many of CDC’s support services whereby annual savings of £400,000 were achieved while still ensuring performance standards remained at the expected high level.
He concluded by saying that CDC was entitled to look back on a year of substantial achievement towards its five CP objectives and the development of well-thought-out plans for 2018-2019 and beyond.
Mr Dignum thanked Mr J Mildred (Divisional Manager Business Support), Mr A Buckley (Corporate Improvement and Facilities Manager) and Mrs J Westbrook (Corporate Improvement Officer) for compiling the Annual Report.
Mr S Oakley (Tangmere) referred to the Planning Services section of the Annual Report (pages 34 to 37 of the Cabinet’s agenda supplement) and queried the absence of any performance indicators (PI) for Planning Policy compared with several for Development Management.
Mrs S Taylor (Cabinet Member for Planning Services) said that the Local Plan Review PI appeared in CDC’s annual Authority’s Monitoring Report and its production was the main target to achieve via an extensive evidence-based gathering exercise. Mrs D Shepherd (Chief Executive) remarked that the need for the inclusion of such a PI in the CDC Annual Report could be considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee next year and she added that management targets across all services were regularly reviewed. Mr Dignum said that Mr Oakley had made a good point and that such a PI should feature in the Annual Report from 2018-2019 onwards.
Mr R Hayes (Southbourne) commended the continuation of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and the ongoing assistance being given to those (a) who were or might become homeless and (b) those who wished to remain living in Chichester District despite high house prices and comparatively low wages. These were matters of which CDC ought to be rightly proud.
Decision
On a show of hands the members voted unanimously in favour of the Cabinet’s recommendation with no votes against and no abstentions.
RESOLVED
That the Chichester District Council Annual Report 2017-2018 be received.